BULGARIA. 



67 



0-386 square mile) ; population, 1,859,000. The 

 capital, Sophia, has about 18,000 inhabitants. 

 The population of the other principal cities 

 Tirnova (formerly the capital) 12,000, Widdin 

 19,000, Rustchuk 23,000, Varna 16,000. The 

 only railroad in operation was that from Rust- 

 chuk to Varna, 224 kilometres. The National 

 Assembly consists of the Exarch or head of the 

 Bulgarian Church, of one half of the bishops, 

 one half of the Presidents and members of the 

 Supreme Court, one half of the Presidents of 

 the district courts and of the commercial court, 

 and of deputies of the people one member 

 representing 20,000 persons. 



Prince Alexander has sought, by making vis- 

 its of friendship and courtesy to Russia, Servia, 

 and Roumania, to strengthen the relations of 

 Bulgaria with the states allied to it by sympa- 

 thies of race and neighborhood. The efforts 

 of the Government to perfect measures for effi- 

 cient administration and the consolidation and 

 development of the resources of the country 

 have been hindered by the excess in the amount 

 of obligations to which the principality was 

 committed, and the cost of necessary works 

 over the available revenues. The popular move- 

 ment in favor of the annexation of East Rou- 

 rnelia has been strong, and has tended to be- 

 come stronger. The obligations of the Govern- 

 ment were stated previous to the meeting of 

 the National Assembly, in April, to consist of 

 1,200,000 due to Russia, 130,000 to railway 

 companies, and the tribute to Turkey, the 

 amount of which, as well as the amount of the 

 general Turkish debt that would be allotted to 

 Bulgaria to bear, was not yet fixed. To meet 

 these obligations, the revenue of the ye.ir was 

 760,000, or about half the sum which the 

 Turks had raised annually from the provinces 

 constituting the principality, and the whole of 

 that sum had been spent on the army, the civil 

 service, and other ordinary objects. The Gov- 

 ernment had, furthermore, undertaken to com- 

 plete the railways from the frontier of Roumelia 

 to the frontier of Servia, a distance of between 

 60 and 70 miles, at a cost which was estimated 

 at 500,000. At a later date, M. Camille Far- 

 cy, in an article published in the " Nouvelle 

 Revue," supposing that the tribute would be 

 fixed at the amount which Roumania had paid 

 before the war, or 40,000, and that the prin- 

 cipality would be called upon to bear one 

 twentieth part of the Turkish debt, showed 

 that Bulgaria "would start Avith a national debt 

 of 12,000,000, imposing an annual charge of 

 800,000. Adding the amount that the state 

 had engaged to pay on account of the railways, 

 at least 1,000,000 sterling of an annual reve- 

 nue, which it was estimated could not amount 

 at its maximum to more than 1,600,000, was 

 appropriated in advance by the Treaty of Ber- 

 lin. The problem of meeting the treaty en- 

 gagements of the country and carrying on its 

 administration was thus one which might puz- 

 zle men more versed in statesmanship than the 

 untrained deputies of the National Assembly. 



The budget, published in July, showed a defi- 

 cit of 560,000, while the annual expenditure 

 was estimated at 1,800,000, of which amount 

 the Minister of War would require 25,000. 



The National Assembly was opened April 

 4th, by Prince Alexander in person. In his 

 speech from the throne, which was delivered 

 in the Bulgarian language, the Prince referred 

 in terms of satisfaction to the visit he had re- 

 cently made to Russia, and to the friendly 

 reception which the Czar had given him, and 

 expressed gratification at the especial interest 

 which his Majesty took in the welfare and na- 

 tional development of Bulgaria. He announced 

 that bills would be introduced to promote ed- 

 ucation, to establish an efficient police, and to 

 impose a land-tax. All of the members of the 

 diplomatic body were present. The new Min- 

 istry was constituted as follows : M. Zancoff, 

 President of the Council and Minister of For- 

 eign affairs ; M. Caraveloff, Minister of Finance ; 

 M. Stoganoff, Minister of Justice; M. Ticheff, 

 Minister of the Interior; M. Gazelev, Minister 

 of Public Instruction ; General Ehrenroth, Min- 

 ister of War. The Ministers were all educated 

 in Russia, and were understood to favor the 

 immediate annexation of East Roumelia. A 

 bill to require all Bulgarians dwelling in Rou- 

 mania and Servia to be naturalized as subjects 

 of the Bulgarian Principality, which was intro- 

 duced into the Assembly, was objected to by 

 the Roumanian Government, on the ground 

 that it would interfere with its territorial rights, 

 and was withdrawn upon its representation of 

 the case. 



The agitation for tho incorporation of East 

 Roumelia with Bulgaria was kept up actively, 

 in both the principality and the province. It 

 was promoted by the gymnastic societies, pe- 

 culiar organizations of Bulgarians, whose pro- 

 ceedings had rather the character of military 

 drills and exercises of volunteers than that im- 

 plied by their names. Care was taken, by re- 

 quiring that admission to the societies could be 

 gained only by election, to prevent the possi- 

 bility of Turks and Greeks joining them, and 

 embarrassing them in the prosecution of their 

 political objects. The Governor-General of 

 East Roumelia ordered the societies to be sup- 

 pressed in February, and a considerable num- 

 ber of the most fervid agitators left the prov- 

 ince and came into Bulgaria. In July, the 

 Porte received information that the Bulgarian 

 Committee were concerting a plan of action 

 in the event of a rupture between Greece and 

 Turkey. The excitement on the subject was 

 kept up by frequent incursions from Bulga- 

 ria over the border, conflicts with Greeks and 

 Turks, and reports of the importation of arms 

 and the formation of military companies, and 

 the agitation for union was fed by numerous 

 wild rumors. Emissaries from Sophia were 

 said in July to be traversing Macedonia and 

 proclaiming to the Bulgarian peasants that the 

 empire of Alexander the Great was to be re- 

 stored, and to be instigating the formation of 



